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Mason students and families are beginning to see some exciting shifts in the way that students are learning. For years, Mason has used academic standards that exceeded the State of Ohio’s standards. Now, Ohio’s standards for English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies are becoming more rigorous. Mason will use these new standards as a foundation as it elevates what students are learning and what teachers are teaching.

The new standards — which set out clearly what students should learn at each grade level — are being phased into use in Mason’s classrooms in advance of the 2014-15 school year, when state assessments will be aligned to the new standards.

View the Mason School Board Presentation about the Common Core and College & Career Ready Standards at http://masonohioschools.com/files/filesystem/Common%20Core.pdf.

Fewer, Clearer, HigherMason’s administrators and teachers are excited about increasing the rigor, and what that means for students.• Students will study fewer topics within each subject, but drill deeper into each to gain more understanding. • There will be clearer definitions of achievement so that students and families will know what children must accomplish to be ready for college and career.• Teachers will use more in-depth teaching methods and get frequent measurements of how their students are performing.

Robust, Relevant, Real-WorldThe standards aren’t about memorizing facts for a test. Instead, students will learn to relate key ideas from math, science, language arts and social studies to real-life situations.

Teachers will work to facilitate students’ learning – guiding them to think deeply about complex issues, to evaluate sources of information, to persist when work is hard, and to confidently communicate the rationale behind their answers.

Internationally BenchmarkedThe standards are informed by other top-performing countries so that American students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society.

Mason is joining with several other high-performing districts to focus on a more rigorous evaluation system for performance. Included in the new evaluation will be an effort to benchmark against high performing schools around the globe. Visit www.masonohioschools.com/news.cfm?story=983 to read more about those efforts.

“In Mason, we are excited to see the rigor increased in the new standards, and look forward to raising the bar for each of our students,” said Amy Spicher, Associate Superintendent.

What Do You Think?Take the survey to give your input about which academic, school climate, parent and community engagement, and financial benchmarks should be used to measure educational excellence. Visit www.MasonOhioSchools.com to take the survey.

About the Common CoreThe English language arts and math standards, called Common Core standards, were created through a partnership of educators around the country, and have been voluntarily adopted by the state boards of education of Ohio and 45 other states. Ohio has developed its own more rigorous science and social studies standards. The goal of all these guidelines is to ensure that all students have greater opportunities and access to the careers of their choice through a K-12 education system that provides the knowledge and skills most valued by employers and higher education.

Visit http://www.corestandards.org/ for more information about the Common Core.